Can you look beautiful? When you look at yourself in a mirror are you happy with what you see? When you look at yourself are you very judgmental? Are you as judgmental with other people as you are yourself? This article will enable you to unpick your thought process and help you to look beautiful naturally every day.
As a teenager I didn’t think I was pretty. Now aged 49, when I look back at photos of myself, I don’t think my view was accurate. I see a beautiful girl. In my 20s and 30s I didn’t like having my photo taken or looking at myself in the mirror. Is this sounding familiar? Do you also avoid looking at yourself in the mirror? How can you look at yourself and be happy with what you see? Let’s journey together and see what we can find to solve this problem. If you are happier with how you look, you will feel happier inside.
What does beautiul mean?
Let’s start with beauty. What do you think is beautiful? You need to understand your idea of beauty is to be able to achieve it. If you don’t, there’s no target, you’re firing all over the place hoping to hit something. Let’s be clear, we are talking about natural beauty, not huge fake eyelashes and thick make up that doesn’t allow your skin to breathe. That’s not natural beauty, it’s fake.
What does beauty look like to you? Can women your age look beautiful? Can women older than you look beautiful? If you answered no to either of these questions, where did you get this view? Was it from magazines and marketing images full of pubescent models? Our society reveres youth and those are the images we see everywhere. Have you been programmed to think that young equates with beautiful without you realising it?
Do you have friends your age that are naturally beautiful women? What is it about them? Are they confident and fun? Do they shine from the inside out? When they laugh do you see their laughter-lines in their face? Does this make them beautiful?
I think older women are beautiful. For a start, we should be celebrate getting to our beautiful older age. We all know of men and women that haven’t lived as long as us. I see beauty in the lines of an older woman’s face, she is wearing her wisdom. But it’s her eyes that sparkle with mischief and fun that give her face beauty. No make up can give you that – it is vibrant and untamed.
How can I be beautiful?
How do I get that natural beauty you ask? That vibrancy comes from inside. Look at yourself in the mirror and noticing all the parts of you that you like. What do you see that is beautiful? Are your eyes beautiful? Do you like the shape of your face, your lips, the colour of your skin? I bet you can list lots of things you aren’t happy with about your appearance. My challenges to you is to find 3 things you like about your face and features, then find another one and another and another…
If you don’t you will be repeating my mistake. I thought I wasn’t beautiful as a teenage, in my 20s and 30s but I look back at old photos of me and a I see a beautiful woman that was unhappy with herself which made her sad. It was a waste of my life. I had bought into cultural stories about how I needed to look subconsciously, and this was making me feel inadequate. It was destroying my self-esteem.
In my 40s I realised that a load of utter crap was going round in my head which made me miserable. I decided to end its hold over me. It was journey in which I reclaimed being beautiful me. You too can do this too if you want.
We started looking at your views about beauty. I hope you have widened your definition of beauty. You will have identified radiant women of your age and older. What do you like about their faces? Do you also have this quality? You are looking for more positive things you like about yourself. It’s time to be loving and compassionate with yourself.
Shine your beauty
When you love yourself, the confidence flows from the inside out. You are more relaxed, life is more fun and you smile more. It’s time to look in the mirror and look yourself in the eyes and say “hey beautiful, you’re looking gorgeous today”. I do this after I get out the shower in the morning. This may seem very un-British, but who cares? You feel great, you are cheering yourself on in life. Give it a go! It might feel award at first, a bit false, but go for it until you really mean it. Love the woman looking back at you. Thank your gorgeous body for being your container in this life. You will look in the mirror, look yourself in the eyes with love and know you look naturally beautiful.
Let me know how you felt about your appearance in the different phases of your life. Email me about how working with the mirror goes via info@explorediscover.me If you need more support in this personal journey reach to me via email or a 20 minute complimentary chat: https://explorediscover.me/free-online-coaching/